Exact expression

Photography, as Nicky Ledesma does, is representational art. He is keen in selecting key moments for keeps in our perpetually shifting environment. His creativity is about visualizing realms that excite, inspire, and engage.

Nicky's journey began in the early '70s, a film-based, black-and-white era meticulously spent on processing and printing. He claims to having been greatly influenced by Ansel Adams as he adhered to Adams's pioneering zone system technique.

He recalls perhaps his  most moving feat during his collegiate years when he was able to lord over his school's photography contest which was held as a part of a cultural fest. "I won first, second, fourth, and sixth places which in turn, gave our batch the points to win the overall cultural championships. I was pitted against the arts and mass communications students who took up photography in their pictorial communications course. They were artists who slept, ate, drank, and smoked with so much creativity. I was not a trained artist and could not match the creativity that oozed so naturally from them, thus winning over them was most significant," he enthused.

Enjoy the ride

In Contemplation

Lakawon Island

Temple of Angkor Wat

Great Wall of China

Taal Volcano

Moonshine

Khmer, Siem Reap

Tranquility, Halong Bay

Friendship

International Dance Fest, 2015

He has since acquired a wider perspective of the world and the environment through photography. He believes that with a much thorough perspective, he was able to better appreciate God's magnificent bounty which are sometimes dismissed as these come in blurs to the untrained eyes.

Landscape photography has been his field of choice as he consistently nods to the works of Ansel Adams. The natural environment and its teeming scenic elements fulfill Nicky's pursuit of fostering the wonders of life. "Photography captures what I see in more comprehensive ways which are more lasting," he explains.

He describes his signature take on landscape photography as a play on subdued lighting which fires his mood and visual preferences may it be in colored or monochromatic. His take on infrared photography has been about taking his faculties further as he goes beyond the visible color spectrum to capture striking images.

Apart from personal feats, Nicky is also an esteemed pioneering member of the Camera Club of Negros and was a club president in years 1983 and 2008. Part of the club's endeavors revolve around social awareness as well as formally introducing the craft of photography to enthusiasts in Negros province since 1981 alongside Billy Lopue and Antonio Corral.

Ultimately, Nicky aims to make a difference as he seeks to influence others in appreciating and protecting nature through his photographs. Consequently, he echoes Adams's principle that "a great photograph is a full expression of what one feels about what is being photographed in the deepest sense, and is, thereby, a true expression of what one feels about life in its entirety." (NICKYLEDESMA)

Source: Exact expression

Holiday Buyer's Guide: iPhone accessories for photographers & filmmakers

 

Feature

There's lots of gift options for aspiring filmmakers and photographers on your holiday list. Here's a selection of imaging accessories for Phone users.

After focusing attention on mobile photography in its global "Shot on iPhone 6" advertising campaign over the last year, Apple has assembled a new Photography Kit and Videography Kit for iPhone 6 and 6s users. A variety of third party developers are also offering accessories and apps for capturing and enhancing photos and film with iOS devices.

Photography Kit for iPhone 6/6s - $199

The first package, aimed at capturing still images, combines an olloclip Active Lens bundle (ultra-wide and telephoto - $100 from Amazon.com and B&H Photo); a compact Manfrotto PIXI Tripod ($25 from Amazon.com and B&H Photo) and MeFOTO Sidekick 360 Plus Tripod Mounting Adapter (which locks an iPhone into position at virtually any angle - $35 from Amazon.com and B&H Photo) and a HISY Bluetooth Camera Remote (for shooting at a distance - $25 from Amazon.com or $20 from B&H Photo).

The photography accessories are all packaged in a compact, custom designed Incase Photography Kit carrying case. The package is designed to work with iPhone 6/6s and 6/6s Plus.

Videography Kit for iPhone 6/6s - $299

A second package, targeting mobile filmmakers, bundles the olloclip Active Lens with a larger Manfrotto Compact Action Tripod and the MeFOTO Sidekick 360 Plus Tripod Mounting Adapter, as well as a Shure MV88 Digital Stereo Mic ($149 from Amazon.com and B&H Photo).

The videography accessories are supplied with a Incase Tripod Sling, a larger shoulder bag with additional pockets for other tools. This package is also designed to work with iPhone 6/6s and 6/6s Plus.

Both of Apple's new accessory bundles are now available in its online store and at select Apple Retail locations, which are promoting them alongside other products in new retail feature bay collections. Apple is also featuring a variety of photography and creativity accessories in its online store.

FLIR One thermal imaging camera - $249

This camera accessory adds infrared photography to any iPhone 5/6 model, as well as recent iPads, enabling capture of heat images—and time-lapse sequences—revealing details otherwise invisible to the eye. It features a built in battery, and connects via Lightning.

Moment Lenses - $99

An alternative set of larger lens accessories is offered by Moment. The company's Wide Lens (for capturing dramatic landscapes and tight interior shots with minimal distortion), 2x Tele Lens (for zooming in on action and travel shots) and 10x Macro Lens (for focusing on the details of small objects) are priced at $99 each, offering a high quality lens system for iPhone 6/6s users, as well as offering mounting plates for iPhone 5/5s/5c, iPhone 4/4s and iPad Air/Air 2 and iPad mini users.

Moondog Labs 1.33X Anamorphic Lens - $175

Filmmakers wanting to capture cinematic, wide format images can use Moondog Lab's high quality, affordable Anamorphic adapter to take full advantage of all the pixels captured by iPhone 6/6s while recording video in a 2.4:1 aspect ratio, with the kind of organic lens flares and distortion that typically requires very expensive equipment.

This lens, originally funded as a Kickstarter campaign, was used by director Sean Baker to shoot the full length feature film Tangerine entirely on an iPhone, garnering special attention at Sundance Film Festival and picked up for national theater distribution. It was also used by carmaker Bentley to shoot its Intelligent Details DxO One camera body (also available at $599 from Amazon.com and B&H Photo) adds a large 1 inch, 20.2 megapixel sensor camera to an iPhone 6/6s or 6/6s Plus, attaching to the phone via its Lightning connector. It uses the phone's Retina Display as a view finder, supplying a high end camera capable of taking pictures equivalent to a 32 mm lens.

The DxO's f/1.8 aperture lens can capture professional grade images in very low light, and offers up to 1/8000 of a second shutter speeds to freeze action shots. The device itself is small enough to fit in your pocket, and connects to an iPhone using a swiveling hinge for flexible shooting using its own specialized app. Photos are transferred to the iPhone via Lightning for immediate sharing.

Source: Holiday Buyer's Guide: iPhone accessories for photographers & filmmakers

How a Rare Judas Painting Survived the 16th-Century English Reformation

Unknown artist, "The Kiss of Judas," c. 1460 (image via HKI Institute/The Fitzwilliam Museum, Image Library)

During the Protestant Reformation in 16th century Europe, Puritan iconoclasts destroyed an estimated 97% of religious art in England during the English Civil War. Very few church paintings survived. But recently, researchers in Cambridge discovered a medieval painting depicting Judas Iscariot's betrayal of Christ, which, thanks to a bit of 16th century recycling, managed to escape the Reformation's tide of destruction. It's one of the rarest artworks of its type.

The Fitzwilliam Museum's Hamilton Kerr Institute discovered that "The Kiss of Judas," painted on a wooden panel, was turned around during the Reformation and its back surface reused. It was most likely used to list the Ten Commandments, typical of a Protestant church furnishing, the researchers speculated.

"We cannot know for sure why the painting was re-used in this fashion, perhaps it was simple economy, reversed so it could still fit the space for which it was intended," Dr. Lucy Wrapson, the art conservator who made the discovery, said in a statement. "Or perhaps it could have been deliberately saved."

The painting was purchased by the Fitzwilliam Museum in 2012 from the Church of St Mary, Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, which didn't have the funds to fix it up. It arrived at the Fitzwilliam covered in bat feces, cobwebs, surface dirt, and discolored varnish, making it hard to see the image. The back had been covered by a plywood board. When Wrapson removed the board, infrared photography revealed the painting had been turned around and whitewashed to be repurposed.

Extensive restoration revealed that the painting, rendered in bright oil colors with gold and silver leaf details, depicts a treacherous Judas gives Jesus a kiss in a flowering patch of grass. Angry soldiers and St. Peter look on as birds circle overhead. "The painting is fascinating, and conservation and cleaning has revealed the vibrant original medieval colors," Wrapson said.

It's even more remarkable that the painting survived considering it depicts Judas. Catholics used to scratch and gouge at images of the loathed Biblical traitor, so during the Reformation, the painting would have been under threat from Catholics and Protestants alike. Only one other English painting of Judas survives from the Reformation period, located in St Michael's church in Mitcheldean, Gloucestershire.

Dendrochronologist Ian Tyers studied the growth rings in the wood panel and found it's made up of boards imported to England from the eastern Baltic from a tree felled after 1423. The painting itself dates from around 1460. It's been moved many times over the course of its strange life.

The story of the painting's survival of the Reformation's attacks on culture comes as ISIS continues to destroy historical monuments, art, and artifacts. It's been argued that Thomas Cromwell, who started and legalized the destruction of what Protestants considered idolatrous art during the Reformation, was the ISIS of his day. On the surface, in his 16th-century British garb, Cromwell hardly resembles modern-day Jihadists, but the effects of his Christian extremism were just as ugly as what we're seeing across West Asia and North African today, and did similar damage to world heritage. Thousands of European frescoes, statues, mosaics, shrines, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and wood carvings were reduced to ashes and rubble at the hands of fundamentalist iconoclasts. The frenzied looting of the Reformation offers a reminder of how destructive extremism is never confined to one ideology or religion.

"The Kiss of Judas" is on display in the Rothschild Gallery of medieval works in the Fitzwilliam Museum.

Subscribe to our email newsletter. (Daily or Weekly)

Source: How a Rare Judas Painting Survived the 16th-Century English Reformation

This is What Infrared Photography Does to Freckles

Toronto-based cinematographer Jon Simo created this trippy portrait showing how an infrared camera sees things compared to an ordinary camera.Simo shot the photos using a modified Panasonic GH2 that had its sensor's infrared filter removed. For the portrait half on the left, Simo placed a blue infrared blocker (which filters out infrared light) in front of his lens to show what a normal DSLR would capture. The half on the right was shot with a 720nm infrared filter (which filters out visible light) to create an infrared photo.

"Infrared photography doesn't show freckles," Simo tells PetaPixel. "You end up with this beautiful porcelain-doll like effect and it's a very unique look."

This looks like it's the opposite of what happens when you photograph subjects under ultraviolet light. Last year, artist Tom Leveritt showed how freckles and other skin features that aren't seen in normal light can be captured with an ultraviolet camera setup.

Image credits: Photograph by Jon Simo and used with permission

Source: This is What Infrared Photography Does to Freckles

Healing your body using infrared sauna

Healing your body using infrared sauna Share This Story!

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

Healing your body using infrared sauna

Infrared technology has been used to help increase metabolism, drop blood pressure, and increase blood circulation.

Try Another

Audio CAPTCHA

Image CAPTCHA

Help

]]>

{# #}

CancelSend

Sent!

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

Posted!

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Sonia Azad, WFAA 5:45 p.m. CST November 24, 2015

Paul Brown sits in an infrared sauna at Balancing Energy Health & Yoga Studio in Dallas(Photo: WFAA)

DALLAS – Tucked into a corner of Dallas' Design District, Balancing Energy Health & Yoga Studio is home to an infrared sauna, a unique tool used for healing.

"We start it out at about 100-120 degrees and go up to about 150," said studio owner Lisa Breitenwischer.

"I come every day to do this," said Paul Brown, 29, whose doctor suggested he use infrared technology to help treat high levels of lead and mercury in his body.

"Right now, it's a requirement," he said. Brown hadn't heard of infrared saunas before his first session seven weeks ago.

"This is to address an underlying root cause of a chain of problems that I have," he said. "I can't get rid of metals quick enough, so it builds up."

Think of it as a cleanse... from the inside out.

Infrared technology has been used to help increase metabolism, drop blood pressure, and increase blood circulation. Some experts claim you can burn up to 700 calories in an hour.

It's different from a normal sauna in that you receive the same rays that come from the sun. The UV radiation is filtered out. Without external heating, it heats the body from the inside, allowing you to sweat out toxins through your skin.

Lisa Breitenwischer (Photo: WFAA)

"Because it doesn't heat up the air, it's very comfortable," Breitenwischer said. "You will start sweating, but it's not like a steam or dry heat. You can breathe comfortably."

Infrared has been used to rinse out the liver and kidneys, and break down the body's trapped fat and waste.

"When you get mercury [...] loose from your bones — which is where it is in my system — if you don't remove it from your system in a timely fashion, you can reabsorb it," Brown said.

So, he literally sweats out the toxins his body can't release in the sauna.

Paul Brown enters an infrared sauna. (Photo: WFAA)

Paul's physician, Dr. Amy Myers, elaborated on why she recommends infrared therapy.

"There are two components to detoxing: one is supporting your detox pathways, so that your body is able to flush out the toxins, and the other is repairing the damage done by the toxins," she said. "Traditional saunas cause your body to sweat out toxins, which helps with the first aspect, but infrared saunas not only flush out toxins more effectively, they also help your cells and tissues regenerate and support your immune system, which is why I recommend them to my patients."

The cost for a 30-minute infrared sauna session at Balancing Energy Health & Yoga studio is $15. Appointments are required.

"That's where the healing process can begin," Breitenwischer said.

__________

Here's a look at how infrared saunas support your detox pathways and repair damage caused by toxins, provided by Dr. Myers:

Deeper Detoxification (Far Infrared)

Traditional saunas warm the air around you, essentially heating you from the outside in. Far infrared light penetrates your skin and raises your core body temperature, heating you from the inside out. This means that you're not just sweating out toxins close to the surface, your deeper tissues are expelling toxins at the cellular level.

Circulation (Mid Infrared)

Now that your tissues have expelled toxins at the cellular level, sauna therapy also stimulates your circulatory system (by causing your heart to beat faster), which results in the toxins flowing from the cellular level to your skin, where they are expelled in your sweat.

Cell Regeneration (Near Infrared)

Studies have shown that near infrared light stimulates white blood cell production, promotes cell regeneration, restores enzyme activity, and reduces cell death. This helps your body repair cells and tissues that were damaged by heavy metals and toxins.

Read or Share this story: http://on.wfaa.com/1Hlay5K

TOP VIDEOS

Drones going mainstream for holidays

02:15

Inmate's family demands murder charges

02:18

Sheriff candidate fights back at rumors

02:09

Health deals: Infrared sauna

02:21

Donations needed to feed hundreds

01:52

Shelly's Bookworms: Reading Buddies

03:20

Documents offer insight on indictment

02:05

Turkey shortfall at Fort Worth food bank

02:12

Arlington jailers indicted in inmate's death

03:11

Prostate cancer: Fewer men getting screened

02:05

]]> 0) { %>

0) { %>

0) { %>

]]>
Source: Healing your body using infrared sauna

Redskins Sign Veteran Center; Place Lictensteiger on IR

(photo cred: hogshaven.com)  The Redskins announced on Tuesday that they had signed veteran center, Brian De la Puente and placed C Kory Lichtensteiger on injured reserved (designated to return). De la Puente the veteran out of the University of California was signed to replace Lichtensteiger, who has been out with a neck injury for the past three games.  Jay Gruden stated last week that Lichtensteiger is "just not quite there yet." Josh LeRibeus has been playing in Lictensteiger's place and has only missed one play last week against New England after suffering a laceration on his head.   De La Puente has appeared in 56 regular season games and has played with the 49ers, the Chiefs, the Saints, and the Bears. He was signed in 2008, as an undrafted free agent, to the San Francisco 49ers by then GM Scot McCloughan, currently GM for the Redskins The Redskins also have Austin Reiter, a center out of South Florida, who was signed to their practice squad...
Source: Redskins Sign Veteran Center; Place Lictensteiger on IR

Astronomers image the birth of a planet, verifies formation theory

We already have a pretty good idea of how planets come into existence, but the first one astronomers ever imaged in the midst of formation is LkCa 15 b. The Jupiter-like protoplanet (that's the term used to describe a baby exoplanet), which orbits a young star 450 light-years away, was first caught on cam by Drs. Michael Ireland and Adam Kraus. At the time, however, the scientists weren't sure if they were truly seeing a new planet being born. Now another group of researchers has taken a photo of the LkCa 15 b, and they strongly believe that they "successfully and unambiguously detected a forming planet." Plus, they've verified a formation theory stating that protoplanets glow in the light of incredibly hot (17,500 Fahrenheit) hydrogen gas. The group's paper, which has been published in Nature, combines data from separate studies conducted by two lead authors: University of Arizona graduate student Stephanie Sallum and her former schoolmate Kate Follette, who's now doing postdocto ral research at Stanford University.

The biggest challenge in spotting exoplanets is that the brightness of their stars wash them out too much. As Sallum noted, the difference in brightness between them is "comparable to the difference between a firefly and a lighthouse." Luckily, we have powerful ground-based telescopes now: in this group's case, they used the Large Binocular Telescope in Arizona and the Magellan telescope, which the lead authors' alma matter helped build, in Chile. See, one of the gases that a protoplanet absorbs from the disk is hydrogen, and while the process is ongoing, it emits a wavelength of visible light called "hydrogen alpha." Since the Magellan telescope is capable of seeing H-alpha's shade of red, the astronomers pointed it to the part of the sky where the LkCa 15 b is located.

The image below and the ones in the video were processed by combining infrared photos taken by the Large Binocular with the H-alpha pictures captured by the Magellan telescope. The team also had to remove the host star's overwhelming light and the disturbance brought about by the Earth's atmosphere, but it's clear that they successfully took a photo of planet formation. Sallum, Follette and the rest of the group plan to continue observing the protoplanet in hopes that it can help us better understand the formation of solar systems. Besides, their data suggests that two other baby planets are lurking nearby, and we'll bet they'd love to see those, as well. In addition, if the LkCa 15 b is indeed responsible for the gap observed in the solar system's gas-and-dust donut, then disk gaps could be used as an indicator that a planet is being born.

[Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech]

Source: Astronomers image the birth of a planet, verifies formation theory